Week 6: What we learned from high school football in South Sound
Most leagues across the South Sound have now wrapped up their spring football seasons, which were delayed and shortened by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Three local programs — Graham-Kapowsin, Spanaway Lake and Tumwater — have now completed undefeated seasons.
Tumwater, the Class 2A Evergreen Conference champion, routed Steilacoom last week to keep its undefeated streak — which dates back to 2018 — going.
Spanaway Lake secured its first 3A Pierce County League title Wednesday night with a convincing win over Lakes.
Graham-Kapowsin also topped Sumner that night to put a stamp on its second consecutive undefeated run through the 4A South Puget Sound League.
And those weren’t the only big storylines to unfold. Here are five takeaways from Week 6 of high school football in the South Sound:
1. In his final game at Kennedy Catholic, quarterback Sam Huard broke the state’s career passing record
Sam Huard departed Kennedy Catholic this weekend as the all-time passing leader in the state of Washington.
Huard, the five-star senior quarterback who will continue his remarkable football career in college with the hometown Huskies, reset the state’s career record Saturday afternoon at Highline Memorial Stadium in Burien.
With a 12-yard swing pass to running back Leland Ward on a check down on Kennedy’s final drive of the first half, Huard passed former Shadle Park quarterback Brett Rypien on the all-time list.
“I didn’t know how close I was,” Huard said. “I was just trying not to think about it. We were just trying to be locked in and every time someone brought it up, I would just be like, ‘Hey, listen, let’s go score this next drive.’ That’s kind of been our mindset.
“But, when I got it, it was definitely a great moment — hugging Coach (Sheldon) Cross, hugging all of my teammates, because it’s not just an individual record, it’s such a reflection of our entire team.
“Every offensive lineman who’s played in this system, every receiver, Coach Cross with the Air Raid system dialing it up every single week and just pushing us to grow as people and as players. It’s just such a great reflection of our entire program and our entire school.”
Huard finished his final high school game — the University of Washington signee will enroll early for spring practices, and reports to Seattle on Sunday — completing 40-of-56 passes for 514 yards and eight touchdowns.
It was the seventh time in his career he has thrown for more than 500 yards in a game. He was pulled late in the fourth quarter and given an ovation from the crowd as the undefeated Lancers closed out a 60-17 win over Kentwood.
Huard finished his career 847-of-1,356 passing for 13,226 yards and 153 touchdowns in 35 games.
He becomes the second player in state history to throw for more than 13,000 yards in his career, eclipsing the previous record set by Rypien (13,044 yards in 39 games from 2011-14), who went on to star at Boise State and now plays in the NFL for the Denver Broncos.
Huard was on pace to shatter all of the state’s career passing records had COVID-19 not delayed and shortened the season.
Prosser product Kellen Moore, who also played at Boise State before playing in the NFL for the Lions and Cowboys, holds the state’s career touchdowns record with 173 in 44 games between 2003-06. Rypien still holds the record for most completions in a career (1,006) by a wide margin.
Huard will end his career ranked third in state history on both of those lists.
2. Spanaway Lake secured its first league title since the 2000 season
For the first time in two decades, Spanaway Lake is back on top.
The Sentinels wrapped up an undefeated 3A PCL title Wednesday night in Lakewood with a 35-7 win over perennial South Sound giant Lakes at Harry E. Lang Stadium.
It was Spanaway Lake’s first league title since winning the 4A SPSL in 2000.
“It doesn’t stop here,” sophomore quarterback Dempsey James said. “We keep building. We keep going.”
The Sentinels return most of their top playmakers on both offense and defense next fall, assuring they will contend for another title with league powers like Lakes and Lincoln. Convincing wins over both of those programs this spring proved that.
The Sentinels put the league — and the state — on notice when they shocked the Abes back in Week 1, and the win over the Lancers last week further solidified the sense that Spanaway Lake could be a serious contender not only in the 3A PCL, but statewide, in the fall.
Lakes grabbed an early advantage in the season finale — the only time an opposing team took a lead on Spanaway Lake this season — but the Sentinels responded with five unanswered touchdowns to run away with the title.
Sophomore Jasiah Wagoner, a four-star recruit who typically plays wide receiver, lined up at running back and torched the Lancers for 231 yards and three touchdowns on 21 carries.
“Shout out to my O-line and my quarterback for opening all the holes and making all the right reads,” Wagoner said.
Wagoner finished the season as Spanaway Lake’s top rusher (21 carries, 237 yards, three TDs) and receiver (24 catches, 412 yards, eight TDs).
“Obviously, he’s a gifted athlete,” Sentinels coach Cameron Robak said.
Spanaway Lake allowed only two touchdowns this season. The first was in the first half against Lincoln back on Feb. 19, when Gabarri Johnson hit LaRon Monroe for a 20-yard score. The second was when Leo Pulalasi bulled his way into the end zone for 3 yards late in the first quarter Wednesday for Lakes.
The Sentinels recorded 18 consecutive scoreless quarters in between, and posted shutouts of Clover Park, Mount Tahoma, Bonney Lake and Stadium. They outscored opponents this season 259-14.
3. Graham-Kapowsin proved it is still the program to beat in the 4A SPSL
The annual showdown between Graham-Kapowsin and Sumner — both perennial powers in the 4A SPSL — ended Wednesday night at a rain-soaked Sunset Chev Stadium with the Eagles locking up their second consecutive undefeated league title.
Graham-Kapowsin has now won 18 consecutive games spanning three seasons in league play.
The last time the Eagles lost a league contest? That would be back on Sept. 21, 2018, when they dropped an overtime thriller to eventual league champion Puyallup at Art Crate Field in Spanaway.
Graham-Kapowsin has gone unmatched since, and wrapped up this undefeated run through one of the state’s toughest leagues with a convincing 34-14 win over always-competitive Sumner.
Here’s a quick recap of the rest of the Eagles’ schedule:
Week 1 — 27-0 win over Bellarmine Prep.
Week 2 — Game against Gig Harbor canceled.
Week 3 — 41-7 win over Bethel.
Week 4 — 35-17 win over Puyallup.
Week 5 — 49-24 win over Peninsula.
But, this win over the Spartans was the crowning achievement.
“I couldn’t be more proud,” Eagles coach Eric Kurle said. “Probably one of the best wins I’ve had in a while because we had key kids gone and we started out really, really fast.”
Even without some usual contributors in Jalen Davenport (toe), Va’a Hansen (knee/ankle) and Jonas Waugh (shoulder), the Eagles scored on four of their five first-half drives to take a 28-0 lead into the break. Sumner never recovered.
On Graham-Kapowsin’s first offensive play, quarterback Joshua Wood connected with Vinicio Hansen for a 45-yard gain. Two plays later, he hit Julian Mason for a 31-yard score, and the Eagles never lost that lead.
They scored on their next two drives on a 34-yard touchdown connection between Wood and Hanson, and a 2-yard run by Zack Lee. Their fourth drive ended in a punt, but their fifth led to another touchdown when Charlie Lockington punched in a 1-yard score.
Sumner cut the lead back to two touchdowns late in the third, but the Eagles responded five minutes later when Wood found Cameron Sonnenfeld to push the lead back to 20.
The Eagles finished with 419 yards of total offense. Wood finished 16-of-23 passing for a career-high 298 yards, the three touchdowns and one interception in his fifth varsity start. Mason had a game-high 126 receiving yards and the touchdown on seven first-half catches. Lee added 103 yards and the score on 29 carries.
“We’re big, physical, we run and then we showed today that we can just throw the ball and air it out,” Wood said.
4. Eatonville’s Caden Jumper took over — again — in a win over Enumclaw in his final high school game
Much like his father, Brandon — who still ranks sixth on the state’s all-time rushing list (5,910 yards in 42 games from 1984-87) — Caden Jumper will be remembered as one of the best football players in Eatonville history.
In his final high school game Saturday at Art Crate Field in Spanaway — the UW signee will enroll early and heads to Seattle on Sunday — Jumper did what he has done throughout his impressive career.
The do-everything senior finished 7-of-8 passing for 166 yards and four touchdowns, and rushed for another 112 yards on 18 carries to lift the Cruisers to a 33-21 win over Enumclaw in a Class 2A South Puget Sound League showdown.
“We are so thankful for his toughness and leadership and character and everything he has brought to our program for four years,” Eatonville coach Gavin Kralik said. “He is so versatile and has such unselfishness for playing any position we ask of him.”
Jumper is expected to play tight end for the Huskies, but has spent his career at Eatonville primarily as the Cruisers’ bruising quarterback, was often their leading rusher, sometimes a receiver and a linebacker.
He threw for more than 1,500 yards in his four-year career, rushed for more than 2,700, racked up nearly 700 receiving yards, and finished with more than 4,900 total yards and 64 touchdowns.
“You don’t really feel it’s the last time until the end of the game,” Jumper said. “You show up and it is like every other game. Those last 50 seconds it became more surreal to me that this was actually the final step with my football team.”
Eatonville never lost the lead against the Hornets after Austin Wicker returned a blocked punt 31 yards for a touchdown early in the first quarter.
Jumper then connected for a 57-yard touchdown with Jakob Lucht and a 55-yard score with Job Kralik before the half was out. He threw touchdowns of 9 yards to Lucht and 24 yards to Kralik in the second half as Eatonville secured the win.
“We wanted to go out with a bang,” Jumper said. “We wanted to come out and make a statement and that is exactly what we did.”
5. Steilacoom’s Logan Brady tied a state record in a win over Orting
Earlier this month, when Steilacoom pulled off a statement win over South Sound power Lincoln, coach Colby Davies used these two words to describe Logan Brady — steady and consistent.
It’s a suitable assessment — the Central Washington signee has proved week in and week out he’s one of the most reliable receivers in the region.
He did it again Wednesday in a 47-14 win over Orting, hauling in 11 catches for a career-high 209 yards and six touchdowns.
The six scores not only set a single-game record at Steilacoom, but tied the state record for receiving touchdowns in a game. Only three other players in history have accomplished the feat — Peninsula’s Tom Owens (1986), Rogers of Puyallup’s Kyler Ooley (2014) and Columbia of Burbank’s Cam Jamison (2016).
Brady added another 65 receiving yards and a touchdown in a 55-7 win over Franklin Pierce on Friday night in Steilacoom’s second game of the week.
His season totals are now 48 catches for 738 yards and 12 receiving touchdowns in six games.
Craig Craker and Doug Drowley contributed to this report.
This story was originally published March 28, 2021 at 5:00 AM.
